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Author and Garden Designer Kit Peel, is the Artistic Director of NiddFest. It wasn’t foreign news reporting in South Africa or a year on a Greek island, but Nidderdale where Kit Peel finally fell in love with nature. The seeds of Niddfest were planted during a train journey, dreamed up by the children’s author and…

Rob Cowen is the author of Common Ground, voted Britain’s third favourite nature book, beating classics like The Wind in the Willows. Declared ‘bold and beautiful’ by Robert Macfarlane, and ‘Touched by genius’. No pressure then. “Writing Common Ground was like being possessed by somebody else,” Rob laughs, “that’s what it felt like. I was…

We’re looking forward to next summer! We are delighted to announce that NiddFest 2018 will take place on the weekend of 15-17 June. The 2018 NiddFest will be run in close partnership with our friends at the Nidderdale AONB and in collaboration with the inspirational nature project The Wild Watch. Expect a weekend of brilliant…

NiddFest is thrilled to be joining the Curious Arts Festival this weekend. Described as the UK’s top boutique festival, the Curious Arts Festival offers a stellar line up of music, arts, comedy and adventures in a beautiful setting overlooking the English Channel. Headlines include music from Tom Odell, Izzy Bizu and the Royal Philarmonic Concert…

On nights like these, our house whistles and howls, it leaks and it whines. Voices are given to all the doors. There’s a skirting board that sounds like tortured mice. Wind. Endless wind. Funnelled through the narrow avenue of our dale and hitting our high-lying house. The shelter belt I’ve planted hasn’t risen up yet,…

After a launch in 2014 and two full festivals in 2015 and 2016, NiddFest is going to have a year off. This will give the team time to prepare and fundraise for a new-look, much larger festival in 2018. While keeping to our core nature theme, NiddFest intends to evolve into more of a creative…

‘It is a vision of a future so apocalyptic that it is hard to even imagine. But, if leading scientists writing in one of the most respected academic journals are right, planet Earth could be on course for global warming of more than seven degrees Celsius within a lifetime. And that, according to one of…

The Donald Trumpkin, which appeared on my terrace this morning. Sometimes all that is left is humour… Change is afoot in the US which may have serious impact on the world’s environment. I wrote a blog post last night on my personal blog, as America went to the polls. On this dawning new era, I…

Satish Kumar, talking about his book Soil, Soul, Society NiddFest is delighted to have raised £478 for the Jo Cox Memorial Fund. This money represents all ticket sales proceeds from the 2016 festival’s opening event featuring legendary peace and environmental campaigner Satish Kumar, talking about his book Soil, Soul, Society. Jo Cox was a Yorkshire…